Rand Paul may be back on the main stage for the next Republican debate

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) will likely be back on the main stage on Thursday for the final Republican presidential debate before the February 1 Iowa caucuses.

To qualify the Fox News, candidates need to be in a top-five standing in an average of five recent state polls in Iowa or New Hampshire. Or they can place within the top six in an average of five recent national polls.

Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky and 2016 presidential candidate, stands on stage at the start of the Republican presidential candidate debate at The Venetian in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015. With less than two months remaining before the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses and the Feb. 9 New Hampshire primary, middle-of-the-pack candidates hoping for a late surge in the polls have little choice but to come out swinging in tonight's fifth Republican debate. Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 23: Host Larry Wilmore speaks with Republican candidate Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) on Comedy Central's 'The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore' Soul Food Sit Down on October 23, 2015 in New York City. The show airs tonight, November 2, 2015, at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT on Comedy Central. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Comedy Central)

GREENVILLE, SC - SEPTEMBER 18: U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) speaks to voters at the Heritage Action Presidential Candidate Forum September 18, 2015 in Greenville, South Carolina. Eleven republican candidates each had twenty five minutes to talk to voters Friday at the Bons Secours Wellness arena in the upstate of South Carolina. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

2016 Republican presidential candidates George Pataki, former governor of New York, Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, stand on stage during the Republican presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, U.S., on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015. The main debate of the top 11 GOP contenders in the polls follows the 'kids' table' debate of candidates who didn't make the cut. Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images

UNITED STATES - AUGUST 7: Presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks with the media at the Pints for Liberty event at Rat River Brewery in Columbia, S.C., on Friday, Aug. 7, 2015. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

UNITED STATES - JULY 26: Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., reacts to a question about Sen. Ted Cruz as he arrives for the rare Sunday session in the Senate on July 26, 2015. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky and 2016 U.S. 2016 presidential candidate, questions John Kerry, U.S. secretary of state, not pictured, during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, July 23, 2015. Senator Bob Corker, a key player in the congressional debate over the nuclear deal with Iran, told Secretary of State John Kerry that the Obama administration is engaging in hyperbole to sell it. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 29: Republican presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) waits to be introduced at a campaign stop at an Embassy Suites hotel on June 29, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Paul made stops in four cities in Nevada on Monday as he campaigns for the battleground state against 12 other Republican candidates in the 2016 presidential race. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

LEXINGTON, SC - JUNE 15: GOP presidential candidate, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) greets supporters at the VFW Hall on June 15, 2015 in Lexington, South Carolina. Paul took questions and spoke against government intrusion into the lives of citizens. (Photo by Richard Ellis/Getty Images)

BALTIMORE, MD - JUNE 09: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) addresses the Baltimore county Republican Party's annual Lincoln/Reagan Dinner at Martin's West June 9, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. Paul launched his campaign April 7 in Louisville, where he told supporters, 'I have a message, a message that is loud and clear and does not mince words: We have come to take our country back.' (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 01: U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) does a live interview with ABC News in the Russell Senate Office Building rotunda on Capitol Hill June 1, 2015 in Washington, DC. In protest of the National Security Agency's sweeping program to collect U.S. citizens' telephone metadata, Paul blocked an extension of some parts of the USA PATRIOT Act, allowing them to lapse at 12:01 a.m. Monday. The Senate will continue to work to restore the lapsed authorities by amending a House version of the bill and getting it to President Obama later this week. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

DES MOINES, IA - MAY 16: Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) speaks to guests gathered for the Republican Party of Iowa's Lincoln Dinner at the Iowa Events Center on May 16, 2015 in Des Moines, Iowa. The event sponsored by the Republican Party of Iowa gave several Republican presidential hopefuls an opportunity to strengthen their support among Iowa Republicans ahead of the 2016 Iowa caucus. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

VINTON, IA - APRIL 25: Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) poses for pictures with guests during a campaign stop at the American Legion Hall on April 25, 2015 in Vinton, Iowa. Paul is seeking the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

NASHUA, NH - APRIL 18: U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) speaks at the First in the Nation Republican Leadership Summit April 18, 2015 in Nashua, New Hampshire. The Summit brought together local and national Republicans and was attended by all the Republicans candidates as well as those eyeing a run for the nomination. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images)

LAS VEGAS, NV - APRIL 11: Republican presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) speaks during a rally at the Desert Vista Community Center on April 11, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Paul declared his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on April 7, and is the second Republican candidate to jump into the race. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

MT PLEASANT, SC - APRIL 09: U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and GOP presidential hopeful speaks at a campaign rally in front of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown on April 9, 2015 in Mt Pleasant, South Carolina. Paul outlined a foreign policy vision built both on a strong military and a commitment to use it sparingly. (Photo by Richard Ellis/Getty Images)

MILFORD, NH - APRIL 8: U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) speaks during a rally at Town Hall April 8, 2015 in Milford, New Hampshire. Paul declared his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on April 7, and is the second Republican candidate to jump into the race. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images)

U.S. Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, speaks during a rally to formally announce his presidential campaign at the Galt House hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S., on Tuesday, April 7, 2015. Paul, 52, becomes the second Republican, and second freshman senator to join the 2016 presidential race. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images

And Paul's campaign manager, Chip Englander, tweeted that even if a new poll dropped later on Tuesday, it would likely replace a Loras College poll that was helping to buoy Bush's average in the state.

Last-minute polls have shuffled Paul onto the stage before. Paul qualified for CNN's GOP debate in December after a poll published just hours before the cutoff time put the senator over the top.

But there have been setbacks, most notably the Fox Business debate for which he failed to qualify. The senator proceeded to skip the lower-tier debate and instead on a weeklong media blitz in New York, appearing for more a dozen interviews with print, radio, television, and digital publications.

During an interview with Business Insider, Paul estimated that the total viewership for his appearances on news and talk shows throughout the week was around 15 million viewers, though the number would likely be lower considering redundant viewers who watched multiple interviews.

During the actual debate itself, Paul holed up in Twitter's Manhattan headquarters, fielding questions on Twitter and livestreaming.

The stunt appeared to work — during the debate, Paul's event hashtag was the third-most-popular hashtag in the US on Twitter, and by the time that the debate was finished, the senator gained the fourth-most Twitter followers of all the GOP candidates.

Campaign officials publicly hailed the event as a success, and the senator projected enthusiasm throughout the livestream.

"I think we've taken not a perfect situation — because it isn't good to be excluded, and it is unfair — and turned it into a positive," Paul told Business Insider.